What a way to break in the new year! As we near the end of January, several major headlines have caught our attention. From FDA bans to a brand new president, here’s the latest:
On January 7th, 2025, a series of intense wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area. In the following weeks, the fires continued to spread, affecting not only the LA metropolitan area, but surrounding regions as well. The exact origin of the wildfires is unknown; however, it is clear that they began as a result of several months of drought in combination with severe windstorms. In the days leading up to the fires, a state of emergency was declared due to the severe windstorms. This resulted in energy companies cutting power in certain areas to reduce the risk of power lines igniting. There were also severe delays to flights in the area due to regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration. As of January 29th, the blazes have led to 29 deaths and the burning of over 16,000 buildings. Currently, there is a combination of 29 fire departments, 7,500 emergency personnel, and 939 incarcerated individuals working to combat the fires. Four active fires remain, named the Eaton, Palisades, Hughes, and Border 2 fires. These cover a total of 47,988 acres.
On January 15th, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a ban on the use of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and other ingestible products. This ban was issued in response to a 2022 petition regarding the use of color additives in food. The petition requested a review of the use of FD&C Red No. 3 based on the Delaney clause, which prohibits FDA authorization for any food additive if it has been found to cause cancer in humans or animals. This review resulted in the ban as previous studies revealed Red No.3 to be a carcinogen when laboratory rats were exposed to high levels of the dye. The FDA has given companies until January 15, 2027 to reformulate food or January 18, 2028 to reformulate drugs containing this dye. There is speculation around the potential for further bans on color additives for similar reasons; however, these suspicions have not been confirmed.
On January 18th, roughly 2 hours before midnight, the popular short-form social media platform, TikTok, became unusable on any device within the US. When opened, the app displayed a popup, which stated: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” Less than 19 hours later – the platform was working again. This temporary ban was the result of two legal actions in the United States. First, the ban was initiated by a law passed by Congress outlawing the use of any applications owned by foreign adversaries (any country that does not have diplomatic relations with the US). Second, the ban was postponed after an executive order suspended the law from being enforced for 75 days. This executive order went into effect on January 20th, 2025, which means that the future of TikTok has not yet been determined. Will the ban prevail, or will this beloved platform be saved? Only time will tell.
On January 20th, 2025, the presidential inauguration took place in Washington, DC. At 12pm EST, president-elect Donald J. Trump took the oath of office and was officially sworn in as the 47th president of the United States of America, making him the second president in US history to serve two non-consecutive terms. President Trump’s first term was served from 2016-2020, and is often remembered by its unique timing in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. The swearing in ceremony was followed by an inaugural address from President Trump as well as a presidential parade through downtown DC. A transcript of President Trump’s address can be found on whitehouse.gov for those interested.
It’s been a busy month in the United States, and we at The Cricket look forward to following along with these pressing stories.